This invention relates to a method and means for packaging and roasting meats. More particularly, the method provides the housewife with a method and means tailored specifically to, and packaged with, each roasting-type piece of meat she buys that will reduce the loss of meat juices, increase overall tenderness, and improve the "doneness" uniformity of the meat she roasts.
Many factors, internal and external, influence the finished result of roasted meat. This invention is concerned with certain external factors, individually and collectively, as they affect each other and, in turn, the internal finished result of the "cooked" meat. It is the general object of this invention to modify, alter, and/or eliminate certain external factors so that the finished internal result of the "cooked" meat is superior to the results obtainable under the present state of the art.
The art is old and extensive on various pans, frames, and racks (external factors) for roasting meats, but none of them singly, or in combination, present a simple, inexpensive, all-inclusive method and means for curing the deficiencies caused by the factors that are the subject of this invention; factors which have their beginnings in the retail store and continue right on through to the finished roasted result. These factors, and their interrelationships, are those which affect loss of meat juices and the uniformity, extent, and rate of heat penetration; both of which, in turn, have a major effect on the uniformity and the accuracy in the degree of "doneness", juiciness, and tenderness of the roasted meat.
This invention is applicable only to meats that can be roasted, i.e., meats that are cooked by exposure to radiant dry heat in an oven having reflecting surfaces. This is in distinction to meats that are baked, i.e., cooked by substantially confining the meat in contact with the inside of a vessel, whereby heat is conducted thru the vessel's walls to the meat inside.
This invention has particular application to roasts and thick steaks of beef and veal; and of general application for pork and lamb, and to whole-carcass poultry such as turkeys, chickens, ducks, etc., cooked in the home.
For purposes of illustration this invention will be described mainly with boneless beef taken from the rib section of beef loins. Such sections are commonly referred to as boneless "rib roasts". They may also be rolled and tied.
Standard home literature on meat cookery defines the accepted internal qualities of well roasted beef as follows: Color should be even, and its shade match the extent to which it has been roasted; e.g., it should be bright pinky-red for "rare", reddish-brown for "medium", and greyish-brown for "well-done". All of it should be tender and juicy.
The scientific literature on meat cookery indicates how the condition of the meat-cell fibers during roasting affect the general juiciness and tenderness of the finished roast. For example, if the meat-cell fibers are in a relaxed condition (i.e., not contracted from excessive heating or stretched from pressures due to weight-bearing) they hold their juices better, and the meat will "cook out" juicier and more tender. The more relaxed the meat fibers, the less the weight (water) loss, and the juicier and more tender the finished roasted meat.